On top of the billionaires' list is Mexico's Carlos Slim Helú, who added $20.5 billion to his fortune, more than any other billionaire. The telecom mogul, who gets 62 per cent of his fortune from America is now worth $74 billion and has pulled far ahead of his two closest rivals.
Photos: Left New "kid on the block Otunba Adenuga,right:Aliko Dangote aka Chemical ALi Richest Person in Africa and getting richer by the day even richer than facebook founder !
However, the Microsoft Guru, Bill Gates came second and the investor magnate Warren Buffett came third. Both added a more modest $3 billion to their piles and are now worth $56 billion and $50 billion, respectively.
Gates, who now gets 70 per cent of his fortune from investments outside of Microsoft has actually been investing in the Mexican stock market and has holdings in Mexican Coke bottler Femsa and Grupo Televisa.
Adenuga, owner of several high profile firms which include Conoil Producing, Conoil Plc, Equatorial Trust Bank (ETB), launched Globacom services in Nigeria in 2005, in the Republic of Benin in 2008 and has licences to operate in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire (with Togo and Senegal next).
He took a big gamble laying a $1 billion undersea fibre optic cable, Glo-1, to link Africa with the rest of the world. (partnered with Alcatel-Lucent). The connection will help lower prices for customers as well as help Adenuga expand more quickly.
As for Dangote, who is now the number 51 in the Forbe's list from 334 position in 2008; a step ahead of the Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, who made the list for the first time with a networth of $13.5 billion at the 52nd position.
Dangote fortune surged during the period, after he consolidated all his public and private cement holdings throughout Africa into the continent’s largest cement manufacturer and took it public on the Nigerian stock exchange in October.
Dangote Cement now has a market value in excess of $13 billion, and accounts for a quarter of the Nigeria Stock Exchange’s total market capitalization.
The dearth of native suppliers to meet increasing cement demand is driving the stock price. Dangote projects demand at 72 million metric tons and growing because of the drive to build infrastructure in Nigeria, Africa’s most populated nation, as well as other countries; current supply is 67 million metric tons, a shortfall of 5 million metric tons.
For perspective, he is now richer than longtime white South African billionaires Nicky Oppenheimer of Debeers and Johann Rupert of luxury goods group Richemont, which owns Cartier, Dunhill and other premium brands.
For now he’s gearing up to introduce Dangote Cement to foreign investors. Companies listed on the Nigerian stock exchange are required to have a minimum free float of 25 per cent, Dangote initially listed 5 per cent of shares. According to analysts at Thaddeus Investment Advisors, the Nigerian market is too shallow for a stock of Dangote Cement’s size to be listed on the exchange; this is why the balance of the free float will be listed outside of Nigeria. Dangote, who recently bought himself a $45 million Bombardier aircraft for his birthday, has been shuttling back and forth to London for months, in anticipation of a public offering in London later this year.
He is certainly one to watch. After a lucrative career in trading, Dangote ventured into manufacturing pasta, salt, sugar, and flour in 1997, in part encouraged by the policies of former president Olusegun Obasanjo. Eventually Dangote went from importing and rebagging cement to production as well; he was awarded the government’s then state-owned cement business and began building his own plant in 2003. Cement revenue which has been primarily based on imports grew 15% a year between 2001 and 2005; once the Obajana plant was fully operational in 2007, revenue quadrupled; in fiscal 2009 revenue was $1.2 billion.
Dangote Cement now owns three cement plants and two terminals in Nigeria where he both produces and still imports cement. The Obajana plant is Dangote’s largest to date and controls the largest market share in Nigeria; Dangote terminals at Lagos and Port-Harcourt have the highest import quotas of all local companies. With additional capacity coming on line this year, total capacity is expected to reach 26 million metric tons by the end of 2011. (also helping boost profits: Dangote’s newly combined entity is tax exempt through 2017.)
But he won’t stop there. Dangote has started building investments in cement plants and terminals across Africa including Senegal, Zambia, Tanzania, Congo, Ethiopia, Cameroun, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Liberia and Ghana.
Meanwhile, Egypt led other African countries in the Forbes billionaires' list, with eight billionaires on the list, followed by South Africa with four billionaires, while Nigeria came third with two billionaires. Chief Mike Adenuga joined Dangote on the Forbes’ list rated 597 in the world, and worth $2 billion. Mr Femi Otedola who was previously with Dangote in the list is no longer there.
According to Forbes Magazine, this 25th year of tracking global wealth was one to remember. The 2011 Billionaires List breaks two records: total number of listees (1,210) and combined wealth ($4.5 trillion). This horde surpasses the gross domestic product of Germany, one of only six nations to have fewer billionaires this year.
Whereas, BRICs led the way: Brazil, Russia, India and China produced 108 of the 214 new names. These four nations are home to one in four members, up from one in 10 five years ago. Before this year only, the United States (U.S.) had ever produced more than 100 billionaires. China now has 115 and Russia 101.
Rank Name Net Worth Age Source of Money Country of Citizenship
1 Carlos Slim Helu & family $74 B 71 telecom Mexico
2 Bill Gates $56 B 55 Microsoft United States
3 Warren Buffett $50 B 80 Berkshire Hathaway United States
4 Bernard Arnault $41 B 62 LVMH France
5 Larry Ellison $39.5 B 66 Oracle United States
6 Lakshmi Mittal $31.1 B 60 Steel India
7 Amancio Ortega $31 B 74 Zara Spain
8 Eike Batista $30 B 54 mining, oil Brazil
9 Mukesh Ambani $27 B 53 petrochemicals, oil & gas India
10 Christy Walton & family $26.5 B 56 Walmart United States
11 Li Ka-shing $26 B 82 Diversified Hong Kong
12 Karl Albrecht $25.5 B 91 Aldi Germany
13 Stefan Persson $24.5 B 63 H&M Sweden
14 Vladimir Lisin $24 B 54 Steel Russia
15 Liliane Bettencourt $23.5 B 88 L'Oreal France
16 Sheldon Adelson $23.3 B 77 casinos United States
17 David Thomson & family $23 B 53 media Canada
18 Charles Koch $22 B 75 Diversified United States
18 David Koch $22 B 70 Diversified United States
20 Jim Walton $21.3 B 63 Walmart United States
21 Alice Walton $21.2 B 61 Walmart United States
22 S. Robson Walton $21 B 67 Walmart United States
23 Kwok Thomas & Raymond & family $20 B N/A real estate Hong Kong
24 Larry Page $19.8 B 37 Google United States
24 Sergey Brin $19.8 B 37 Google United States
26 Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud $19.6 B 56 Investments Saudi Arabia
27 Iris Fontbona & family $19.2 B N/A Mining Chile
28 Lee Shau Kee $19 B 83 real estate Hong Kong
29 Alexei Mordashov $18.5 B 45 Steel Russia
30 Michael Bloomberg $18.1 B 69 Bloomberg United States
30 Jeff Bezos $18.1 B 47 Amazon United States
32 Michele Ferrero & family $18 B 84 chocolates Italy
32 Mikhail Prokhorov $18 B 45 Investments Russia
34 Vladimir Potanin $17.8 B 50 nonferrous metals Russia
35 Alisher Usmanov $17.7 B 57 steel, telecom, stocks Russia
36 Azim Premji $16.8 B 65 Software India
36 Oleg Deripaska $16.8 B 43 aluminum Russia
38 Michael Otto & family $16.6 B 67 Retail Germany
39 German Larrea Mota Velasco & family $16 B 57 Mining Mexico
39 Rinat Akhmetov $16 B 44 steel, coal mines Ukraine
39 John Paulson $16 B 55 hedge funds United States
42 Shashi & Ravi Ruia $15.8 B 67 Diversified India
43 Mikhail Fridman $15.1 B 46 oil, banking, telecom Russia
44 Michael Dell $14.6 B 46 Dell United States
44 Susanne Klatten $14.6 B 48 BMW, pharmaceuticals Germany
46 Steve Ballmer $14.5 B 54 Microsoft United States
46 George Soros $14.5 B 80 hedge funds United States
48 Berthold & Theo Jr. Albrecht & family $14.4 B N/A Aldi, Trader Joes Germany
49 Birgit Rausing & family $14 B 87 packaging Sweden
50 Vagit Alekperov $13.9 B 60 Lukoil Russia
51 Aliko Dangote $13.8 B 53 sugar, flour, cement Nigeria
52 Mark Zuckerberg $13.5 B 26 Facebook United States
53 Anne Cox Chambers $13.4 B 91 Cox Enterprises United States
53 Roman Abramovich $13.4 B 44 steel, investments Russia
55 Jorge Paulo Lemann $13.3 B 71 beer Brazil
56 Savitri Jindal & family $13.2 B 60 Steel India
57 Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor & family $13 B 59 real estate United Kingdom
57 Paul Allen $13 B 58 Microsoft, investments United States
57 Viktor Vekselberg $13 B 53 oil, metals Russia
60 Phil Knight $12.7 B 73 Nike United States
61 Robert Kuok $12.5 B 87 Diversified Malaysia
61 Carl Icahn $12.5 B 75 leveraged buyouts United States
63 Mohammed Al Amoudi $12.3 B 66 oil Saudi Arabia
64 Donald Bren $12 B 78 real estate United States
64 Ron Perelman $12 B 68 leveraged buyouts United States
66 Alberto Bailleres Gonzalez & family $11.9 B 79 Mining Mexico
67 Francois Pinault & family $11.5 B 74 Retail France
68 Joseph Safra $11.4 B 72 banking Brazil
69 Abigail Johnson $11.3 B 49 Fidelity United States
70 Viktor Rashnikov $11.2 B 62 Steel Russia
71 Leonardo Del Vecchio $11 B 75 eyewear Italy
72 John Fredriksen $10.7 B 66 shipping Cyprus
72 Stefan Quandt $10.7 B 44 BMW Germany
74 James Simons $10.6 B 72 hedge funds United States
75 Luis Carlos Sarmiento $10.5 B 78 banking Colombia
75 Horst Paulmann & family $10.5 B 76 Retail Chile
77 Nasser Al-Kharafi & family $10.4 B 67 construction Kuwait
77 Eliodoro, Bernardo & Patricia Matte $10.4 B N/A paper Chile
79 Sammy Ofer & family $10.3 B 89 shipping Israel
80 Len Blavatnik $10.1 B 53 Access Industries United States
81 Hans Rausing $10 B 84 packaging Sweden
81 Ernesto Bertarelli & family $10 B 45 biotech Switzerland
81 John Mars $10 B 74 candy, pet food United States
81 Jacqueline Mars $10 B 71 candy, pet food United States
81 Forrest Mars $10 B 79 candy, pet food United States
81 Klaus-Michael Kuhne $10 B 73 shipping Germany
81 Gautam Adani $10 B 48 commodities, infrastructure India
88 Iskander Makhmudov $9.9 B 47 mining, metals, machinery Russia
89 Johanna Quandt $9.8 B 84 BMW Germany
89 George Kaiser $9.8 B 68 oil & gas, banking United States
89 Maria-Elisabeth & Georg Schaeffler $9.8 B N/A ball bearings Germany
92 German Khan $9.6 B 49 oil, banking, telecom Russia
93 Ananda Krishnan $9.5 B 72 telecom Malaysia
93 Dmitry Rybolovlev $9.5 B 44 fertilizer Russia
95 Robin Li $9.4 B 42 Internet China
96 Serge Dassault & family $9.3 B 85 aviation France
97 Kumar Birla $9.2 B 43 commodities India
97 Petr Kellner $9.2 B 46 insurance Czech Republic
99 Leonid Mikhelson $9.1 B 55 Natural gas Russia
100 Cheng Yu- tung $9 B 85 real estate Hong Kong
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